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The Ascent of Money
A Financial History of the World
Niall Ferguson presents finance as a central force in world history rather than a technical activity confined to banks and trading floors. Moving from early money and credit through banking, government bonds, joint-stock companies, insurance, mortgages, and global capital flows, he connects financial institutions to war, empire, revolution, social policy, homeownership, and economic crisis. The book’s recurring claim is that financial innovation has expanded societies’ capacity to mobilize resources and distribute risk, while repeatedly generating new forms of instability and inequality. Ferguson builds his account around vivid cases—including the Medici, the Rothschilds, John Law’s Mississippi scheme, the development of insurance, and the financial relationship between China and the United States. The result is a broad narrative explaining both how modern finance acquired its power and why systems built on credit, confidence, and leverage remain vulnerable to panic and collapse.